About

Windward School is dedicated to producing well-balanced, creative individuals prepared to take on the ever-changing challenges of our world. Our students explore their multiple interests in a dynamic and academically rigorous environment while growing within a nurturing community with the guidance of passionate faculty and supportive classmates.

At the forefront of educational models and practices, Windward School strives to innovate and offer students educational opportunities that are unique, engaging, and relevant to life in the 21st century.

Programs

Fundamental to the Windward School philosophy is the belief that secondary education must engage more than the mind alone. Windward’s comprehensive and rigorous course of study is complemented by opportunities to participate in a wide range of extra-curricular experiences that foster further growth and development.

The School hopes its graduates will go forth from Windward with a strong sense of personal integrity, self-confidence, and pride in their particular talents, inspired by learning, and prepared for college and for life in the 21st century.

Innovation

Windward was founded as a school in which innovation would, by design, always be front and center. The pursuit and implementation of new ideas has been a hallmark of the school for more than four decades, resulting in a relentless search for new and better ideas that have made Windward into a leading independent school and a model for academic progress.

Community

Partnerships are at the heart of Windward School, whether among alumni members of the Windward Network, active volunteers of the Parent Guild, or civic organizations in our neighborhood of Mar Vista.

Windward strives to create a welcoming, inclusive environment that encourages participation in the life of the school while also offering opportunity for meaningful involvement and interaction with local friends and groups.

Giving

Since its founding more than four decades ago, Windward has continued to develop and prosper thanks to those community members, volunteers, foundations, and other friends who have given generously to ensure the continuous advancement of the school.

Whether giving of time or talent, there are many ways to make a difference in support of Windward’s students and ensure the future growth of our learning community.

Alumni Council

2018-19 Alumni Council

Windward’s Alumni Council, 20 members strong and spanning the decades of graduating classes, connects with Windward on behalf of the Alumni Community. This dedicated group meets quarterly to help shape alumni programming and communications. They help to strengthen the relationships within the alumni community and between alumni and Windward. If you’re interested in attending a meeting or joining the Council, please contact alumni@windwardschool.org.

President

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Rob Pasnau '85 completed his undergraduate work at Tulane University, and then went on to earn an MBA in International Management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Rob caught the entrepreneurial bug, and in 2001 built DMG exports, an import-export business licensing Raleigh and Diamondback bicycles in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Rob and his wife Julie are proud parents of Windward alum Shayna Leeds '11. When Rob was asked for a bio he wrote "It's not about me. Support alumni need based scholarships. We are all we have."

Committee Co-Chair

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Lauren Hoffman ’05 has been pursuing multiple passions since moving back to LA after attending college at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Between working in the events industry for brands such as Beachbody and Nike to working in the food industry bringing local restaurants into large companies she is enjoying exploring what makes her happy.

On her personal blog, The Tried Guide she reviews and reports on all of the fitness trends happening in Los Angeles, which you can imagine there is a never ending supply of in LA. Additionally, she also works as a Youth Group Director for Temple Beth Shir Shalom with students in 7th – 12th grade building leadership skills.

Committee Co-Chair

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Michael H. Sugarman is a lawyer in Orrick's Structured Finance Group, based in the Los Angeles office. Mr. Sugarman specializes in structured finance and has extensive experience advising on procedural rules and substantive policies in federal matters. During law school, Mr. Sugarman served as a judicial extern for the Honorable George H. Wu of the United States District Court, Central District of California. Mr. Sugarman also served as Executive Editor of the Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review. Prior to joining Orrick, Mr.Sugarman served as a law clerk to multiple magistrate judges in the United States District Court, Central District of California and worked as an associate for the Law Offices of Steven Goldsobel, A Professional Corporation.

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After graduating from Windward, Heather attended the University of Southern California where she earned a BFA in Writing for Screen and Television and a minor in Neuroscience, making her a Renaissance Scholar. She was also a recipient of the Jay Roach Endowed Fund and graduated magna cum laude and with Distinction. Since college, she has worked on several television shows and is now a television writer and producer. In her free time, Heather enjoys volunteering, writing for the Upright Citizens Brigade, and working with the Global Shapers of Los Angeles to try to help improve the city of Los Angeles. Education is one of Heather’s greatest passions and she is very excited to continue being a part of the Windward community.

Mr. Simon graduated Windward in 1985 before attending UC Berkeley where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in International Political Economy. Mr. Simon currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Toni. They have two boys, Matthew and Adam, both Windward students. Mr. Simon has spent his entire professional career in international trade.

Having helped grow Far East American into one of the largest and most respected plywood importers in the country for the past 24 years, Greg currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Far East American, a Los Angeles based importer specializing in the sales and distribution of imported plywood, flooring, and furniture from China, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia. Founded in 1984, Far East American is a private held company that focuses on providing hardwood plywood and related building products to industrial wood product distributors, cabinet industry distributors and kitchen cabinet manufactures throughout North America. Greg is part of a team that controls joint venture ownership interests in two Chinese factories in addition to managing their offices in Southeast and East Asia.

Currently, Mr. Simon serves as the Co-Chairman of the American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood and serves on the Board of Directors for the International Wood Products Association and the North American Building Material Distribution Association. Mr. Simon is actively involved representing the interests of his industry on Capitol Hill and has provided expert testimony before the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission numerous times. In addition to those endeavors, Greg has served as an active member of the Windward Alumni Board since its inception and remains passionately involved with the school.

Barry currently works as a Sports Marketing Consultant for Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and has more than 20 years of professional experience in the broadcast television and sports industries. Barry has been with Fox since 2002 as a business development executive with expertise in partnership acquisition, management consulting, revenue generation, brand building and integrated marketing strategy. Barry has specialized in maximizing revenue for his team partners and Fox Sports, while affiliating Top Tier brand names with teams represented both locally and nationally. Barry is fortunate enough to have partnered with all of our Southern California professional sports teams (Dodgers, Angels, Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Ducks) and Pac­12 Collegiate teams (USC, UCLA) on integrated marketing platforms, where clients look to increase their brand awareness through affiliations with these teams on television, on­line, in arena, and with community outreach programs.

Barry graduated from Windward in 1989, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Marketing from California State University, Northridge. Barry lives with his wife, Lori and his son Dylan and daughter Payton.

Committee Co-Chair

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After graduating from Windward in 1981, Linda attended Stanford University where she graduated in 1985 with a BA in English. Following college she spent 15 years in finance (Bankers Trust 1985-1989) and in private equity at The Yucaipa Companies focusing on leveraged buyouts in the retail sector where she was a partner prior to retiring in 2001. While in retirement Linda raised her three children, volunteered and managed to read a few books – best job ever. In 2010, together with two partners, Linda fulfilled a life-long dream when she opened {pages} a bookstore in her home town of Manhattan Beach. {pages} is an independent general bookstore and book fair company.

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Elliot Gordon '74 has been involved with Windward School for over forty years. He was one of the founding students of the school in 1971, and is now the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Windward School, as well as the proud father of a Windward alum, Daniel ’10. After graduating from Windward School, Elliot attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and then got masters and law degrees from Harvard University.

Professionally, Elliot has practiced law for over thirty years, both at major, national law firms, and as an in­house counsel for two of the country’s largest healthcare companies.

In 2015, Elliot left the corporate world to become a mediator and arbitrator, using his legal experience to help parties involved in litigation to resolve their disputes. Elliot has also been involved in community organizations; in addition to his service to Windward School, he serves on the Board of Directors of Inner City Law Center, which provides legal assistance to the homeless and veterans, and sits on the City of Santa Monica’s Personnel Board.

Leslie graduated from Windward in 1984 and attended Scripps College in Claremont, graduating in 1988. At that point, she realized she had no idea what to do with her newly minted English degree, so she decided to give vocational school a shot. She completed her coursework to become a court reporter (aka "stenographer") and passed her California state certification which licensed her to write over 200 words a minute and enjoy all 32 rules of comma usage. During this period, she also worked at UCLA Hillel, the campus Jewish Student organization. That part time job lasted 18 years, and encompassed her getting married, working as a court reporter, and having kids.

In 2010, she stumbled into a children's clothing store that was closing down and she and her mom decided to take it over. Leslie and her mom co-manage the store, sometimes amicably, In addition to working, she also volunteers at her kids' school and sometimes accomplishes getting a few loads of laundry done.

Ali Landes is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Wendy Walk. This national non-profit organization raises funds and awareness for sarcoma by hosting walks and numerous other events around the country each year. Wendy Walk has raised more than $2 million for international research from individuals, corporations and family foundations. Wendy Walk hosts events in Miami, New York, Park City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington DC. Before working with Wendy Walk full time, Ali served as a grant writer for several organizations and worked for the NYC Public Advocates Office. Ali graduated from Tufts University and from the Boston University.

Derek’s artistic expression formed at an early age staying up late building entire cities with Legos. This, combined with his interest in art, caused him to declare (at age five) that he wanted to be a "draw-er" when he grew up. This vision for Derek's future was, however, slightly altered during his teen years. Even though he grew up only a stone's throw from the beach in Los Angeles, he shunned the obvious choice of surfing for the East Coast pleasures of Ice Hockey and Lacrosse. It was in these team-oriented sports he learned the art of collaboration. This, combined with his graphic artistic abilities, led him to the career path of architecture. Besides, there is no such career as a "draw-er", but don't tell Derek.

Attending USC's School of Architecture proved pivotal in many aspects of Derek's life. He spent a semester studying architecture in Italy, where he spent numerous days sketching and discovering how the sophisticated urban environment of many of Italy's cities created a quality of pedestrian life in the street that is rarely found back in the States. To this day, one of his goals is to utilize design to improve the pedestrian experience on the street. And as he often says, "No city needs this more than Los Angeles.” Out of school, Derek spent six years working for three different architecture firms, fine tuning his technical and management skills before co-founding the architecture firm Modative in 2006. As it turns out, some of Derek's earliest interests in getting things built (the Legos) and collaboration (team sports) remain alive as some of the core founding principles at Modative.

In the last few years, Modative has established itself as a leading expert in Los Angeles’ innovative residential small lot subdivision ordnance, providing the firm with a steady flow of work and influence over the future of development in Los Angeles. In recent years, Modative co-founders Christian Návar and Derek Leavitt have ventured beyond their architectural practice to forming construction and development companies, becoming a one-stop-shop for designing, developing and building their projects.

"The alumni council strives to create a stronger sense of community. We meet a few times each year and strategize about the best way to bring people together in support of the school and, specifically, how to improve the scholarship programs."